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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning 04/24/2019Planning Board Minutes April 24, 2019 Present: Donald Cleary, Chair; Richard LeBlanc, Clerk; H. Thomas French, Beth Ashman - Collins, Michael McClanahan, Ralph Penney, Michael Feck Alternates Sharon Friedman and Joe Cerretani Shaun P. Burke, Director of Planning and Development; Jennifer Davis, Admin. Secretary 1. April 10, 2019 minutes Motion: To approve as submitted (Feck-LeBlanc) Six in favor. McClanahan abstained. PASSES 2. Public Hearing Notices — Attleboro, Easton, North Attleboro 3. April 23, 2019 memo from Mr. Burke/Draft letter from Cultural Council re: Reuse of the North Main Street Fire Station Mr. Burke explained the Cultural Council is sending a letter to the Select Board asking that an RFP be sent out for the reuse of the North Main Street Fire Station prior to deciding to demolish the building, in an effort to gauge developers' interest in reusing the building as something like a restaurant or a cultural use. The Cultural Council has asked several other boards and committees to sign on to the letter. Mr. Burke said the Select Board has hired an appraiser, and the appraisal came back saying the land has more value without the building. Mr. French said the asbestos would have to be remediated prior to razing the building, which would be an added expense for the town, but which a developer could plan for. He said he would support the idea of investigating the reuse of the building. Mr. Burke said the Cultural Council has provided a list of structures in other towns that have been reused, including Foxboro, which has put out an RFP for the reuse of its former fire station. He said the North Main Street fire station meets the date criteria, but not the size criteria, of the Adaptive Reuse of Historic Structures by-law. Motion: To sign on to the Cultural Council's letter requesting the Select Board send out an RFP for the reuse of the North Main Street fire station prior to deciding to demolish the building (Feck-LeBlanc) Mr. Penney said he doesn't think there would be a lot of remediation necessary and said he thinks the highest and best use would be for a single developer to buy both the fire station and the vacant lot next door. Mr. McClanahan said he thinks the Select Board is in favor of preserving the building. Steve Schoonveld, 21 Newton Street, Select Board member, said that board has not voted to tear down the building and all options have been left on the table. None Seven in favor. Two opposed. PASSES Planning Board 4/24/19 2019. Motion: To continue the public hearing to June 15, 2019 at 7:15 p.m. (Feck-McClanahan) All in favor. PASSES s The clerk read the public hearing notice. Mr. Cleary explained how the public hearing will be conducted. To amend the Town of Mansfield Zoning By -Laws and adopt the following new Section 230-3.4M: Marijuana Manufacturing, Independent Laboratory Testing or Research allowed by Special Permit in the I-2 district. Attorney James Thrasher introduced Brian Quick, VAM Realty Trust Attorney Thrasher explained he drafted the proposed by-law using the existing recreational marijuana by-law as a model. He said the intent is to allow marijuana manufacturing, independent testing and research in the Industrial 2 (I2) zone. He said there will be no retail, cultivation, delivery or any other consumption services on the site. Attorney Thrasher explained there several I2 locations in town, and the site they are focusing on is in the north end of Mansfield, off Francis Avenue. He said this would complement the IDC's campaign to promote continuous bio-specific business in Mansfield. He explained the business would involve the manufacture of marijuana patches for pain relief and said when they researched it, they realized they also have to be able to test the product. Attorney Thrasher said the laboratory use would bring jobs and tax revenue and would have a low impact on services. He said the tax revenues to the town could be substantial. He said they attended an IDC meeting and think they have support, and would like the Planning Board's support at Town Meeting. Attorney Thrasher said VAM is a local business, the property has been continuously developed and is large enough to allow expansion. He said the property is a biotech incubator now with 10 biotech companies and 13 other businesses. He said the life sciences industry has been fruitful for the Massachusetts economy and he thinks this will help attract biotech companies with high - paying jobs. He said they understand if this passes at Town Meeting, there would be a lengthy process to get approved through the state. Attorney Thrasher said they have met with Mr. Burke and Mr. Dumas to talk about the proposal. Board Comment Mr. Penney asked the size of the facility; Attorney Thrasher said the VAM lot is 60 acres. He said the by-law was written to require a minimum of four acres as a way to attract larger enterprise. Mr. Penney asked about the number of employees; Attorney Thrasher said that is Planning Board 4/24/19 Public Comment Edward Valanzola, 42 Old Stable Drive, said this is a good idea, but he is concerned about the number of potential locations near residential zones in terms of odor outside the facility, transportation of materials and air quality inside the facility. He suggested getting more information about what "Manufacturing" will mean with this use. Mr. Cleary asked if the special permit process would help mitigate that; Mr. Valanzola said he thinks it would help. He said his concern is about the odor associated with the raw materials used in the manufacturing process. Mr. Quick said the odor issues are usually associated with cultivation and there are no odors associated with retail establishments. He said the finished products brought in for the manufacturing process will be sealed and unsealed inside the building. Attorney Thrasher said the by-law requires all odor be confined to the premises. Scott Feely, 49 Fruit Street, said he visited a dispensary in California that had a grow facility in the same building, but which had no odor because they had the correct equipment. He said the special permit process will address that issue and the use will produce revenue. Steve Schoonveld, 21 Newton Street, said he supports the research efforts, but said this would open up 12 locations for different types of manufacturing and asked about the revenue. Attorney Thrasher said the town can levy a 3% surcharge on the product. Mr. Burke said bringing in additional R&D and lab space into the I2 zone is a good idea and manufacturing under controlled conditions is a positive. He said the special permit process will help protect the community from issues like noise and odor. Mr. McClanahan said it would also bring in high -paying jobs. Mr. LeBlanc said there have been federal tax issues with marijuana and asked if that would create problems for other tenants of the building. Mr. McClanahan said that is loosening up. Mr. LeBlanc said his biggest concern is with the other I2 zones in town, which would not all be appropriate for the traffic associated with a facility like this. He asked about an overlay district in specific areas. Mr. Feck said buildings in the 12 zones can conduct allowed manufacturing uses now, so he doesn't think this change would impact traffic issues. He said with the special permit process, the board would have more control. Mr. Cerretani asked if the board would be able to control odor and exhaust through the special permit process. Mr. Burke said the board could do the same thing it has done with restaurants - require a mechanical scrubber to remove the odor from the air. He said any violation of the special permit would be enforceable through the building inspector's office. Ms. Friedman said the by-law currently allows manufacturing uses provided human health, safety, welfare or the environment are not harmed and suggested adding similar language to this Planning Board 4/24/19 be, but the intent is to provide a time limit on reducing the height because of several initiatives in town. He said he will propose an amendment on the floor of Town Meeting to make the article time specific. Mr. Tarlton said this is commonly used to provide a small timeframe for a stoppage. He said the Master Plan and other studies are just getting started and suggested a pause to allow those things to happen, for the recommendations from those reports to come forward and to allow the town to absorb and make recommendations to the existing by-law. Mr. Tartlton said this would encourage residents to get involved and it has wide -spread support across the town from all directions. Mr. Tarlton said he has been to the IDC and Finance Committee. He said the IDC did a study in 2015 and got feedback about building heights. He said developments over the last few years have not taken full opportunity of the retail and commercial that should be happening on the first floor and said the town has missed out on tax revenues. Mr. Tarlton said the article will be amended on the floor to say it would run "for a period to end May 5, 2020," by which time the planning documents would be completed. He said they are asking for the Planning Board's support and help with the moratorium language. Public Comment The clerk read a letter from the Tri-Town Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Tarlton said he has over 300 supporters. He said development opportunities have been missed with recent developments not maximizing the commercial on the first floor. He said there are many empty spaces in new construction and first floor spaces that have been turned into residential. He said the amendment is not intended to put any restraint on existing buildings, but is meant to be time -specific to put a check on the large-scale developments that could happen over the next year. He said the maximum height is 45 feet, but 1 Mansfield Avenue is 65 feet and doesn't have retail on the first floor. Board Comment Ms. Ashman -Collins asked if the moratorium would be just on height; Mr. Tartlton said it would be. He said the Master Plan may recommend something different, but they want to put in check the larger developments. He said he is concerned developers may inundate the town with projects to get them in before the planning documents are completed. Mr. LeBlanc asked the law behind a moratorium that would impact existing properties. Mr. Burke said moratoriums are legal provided they are time certain and there is a defined outcome. He said because the original proposal does not indicate a moratorium, it is outside the scope of the legal advertisement. He suggested the proponent talk with counsel about that issue. Mr. LeBlanc said he has read about moratoriums being approved when a community's infrastructure is inadequate, but said he has not read about a moratorium to stop something based solely on height. Mr. Burke said he doesn't think the Attorney General's office would approve Planning Board 4/24/19 Mr. Cleary said the economy is strong right now, but if there is no development for a year due to a moratorium, that may change. He said changes will also be coming to the TOD zone. Public Comment Steve Schoonveld, 21 Newton Street, said he shares Mr. Tarlton's concerns and he thought this would be a good way to ease into a Master Plan. He asked how to prevent large development proposals from coming in before the Master Plan is completed. He said this proposal would put some restraints on that. Mr. Burke said he doesn't think this Master Plan will be like the 1989 Master Plan, which resulted in major lot size changes. Mr. Schoonveld said he thinks the Master Plan will be a good process and result in positive changes. He asked how to keep developers from building sidewalk to sidewalk and how to prevent an influx of large developments during the interim. Mr. French said that probably cannot be prevented. Mr. Schoonveld asked why Mansfield isn't getting first floor retail and restaurants and said he hopes the Master Plan consultant will help figure out how that can be done. Mr. Schoonveld said he thinks the parking requirement is part of the problem. Attorney Edward Valanzola said 1 Mansfield has three vacant retail spaces right now, and there have been other long-term first floor vacancies. He said Mansfield has not seen a lot of retail coming to downtown. However, he said taking away a floor would take away a lot of residents, and said downtown restaurants have been doing better with a lot of new downtown residents. Mr. McClanahan said part of the problem is that downtown is long and narrow. Mr. Valanzola said parking is an issue downtown. He said the 1 Mansfield space is about 5,000 square feet; he said retail around the train station has not thrived because people get right on and off the train, and do not stay downtown. He said he thinks shrinking the building height is going to make that situation worse. He said he does not think there are "loopholes" in the Zoning By -Law. Neal Rhein, Old North Trail, said everyone wants a vibrant downtown and said one of the ways to accomplish that is to have more residents downtown. He said the building height has been 45 feet for many years and said if the height makes buildings more economically viable, it makes sense. He said he disagrees there is a parking crisis downtown; he said there is parking available and there are new spaces coming. He said he thinks attractive new buildings are preferable to run-down old buildings. Doug Annino, 151 Tremont Street, said everyone wants downtown Mansfield to be an economically thriving, vibrant focal point. He said the last Master Plan helped the town start to understand how to get there and he said there are a lot of issues to look at before making zoning changes. He said building is becoming more expensive and developers would not build a four- story building if they could make the economics work with three stories. He said we have to get people downtown, which means having more residents downtown. He said we should also try to attract a diverse community and make it make it affordable for young people and the elderly to stay in Mansfield; therefore, we need a diverse housing stock. He said there are more issues downtown than building height, including things like density and massing. He said he thinks the more residents there are downtown, the more shops and other restaurants will appear. He said the developer of 1 Mansfield Avenue wanted a restaurant on the corner, but it has been difficult Planning Board 4/24/19 Mr. Penney said both Master Plan consultants mentioned software that would encourage and allow more public involvement. Mr. Cleary said if the town purchased that software, it could be useful for many other boards. Consensus was to invite members of the Finance Committee, IDC, School Committee, Board of Selectmen and three citizens -at -large, and to invite other groups during certain elements. Ms. Ashman -Collins suggested inviting a youth delegate from Mansfield High School. Motion: To have the Master Plan made up of nine Planning Board members and one representative each from the Board of Selectmen, School Committee, Finance Committee and IDC, as well as three citizens -at -large, to be selected by the Planning Board (French -Penney) All in favor. PASSES The board discussed including a high school student as a member of the committee. Motion: To interview the citizens -at -large after the kick-off meeting on May 15, 2019 (French -McClanahan) All in favor. PASSES Mr. Penney asked for an update on the sidewalk fund, Mr. Burke said that account has been.,.. spent down. Mr. Penney said the Select Board had talked about putting $50,000 in that account annually and asked for a list of what has been done. He said DPW has done a great job on sidewalk repair lately. Mr. Burke said if the marijuana manufacturing question passes at Town Meeting, it will have to go to a ballot vote. Mr. Cleary said he went on a field walk with the Open Space & Recreation Committee. Motion: To adjourn at 10:00 p.m. (McClanahan- ) All Annual Town Meeting: May 7, 2019 Next Planning Board Meeting: May 15, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. #Sioflerk PASSES Date of Ap oval 11 Planning Board 4/24/19